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Thought leadership by Jason Romero, the 1st and only blind person to run across America (VISIONRUNUSA). Jason is a highly sought after inspirational speaker whose talks focus on a challenge to change, mental toughness, teamwork, risk taking and overcoming adversity. More information can be found at www.relentlessromero.com.

I have a mantra that I live by when competing in long distance running. I believe in always making Relentless Forward Progress - no matter how good or bad I am feeling, I need to keep moving forward toward my goal. You can easily draw the parallels to pursuits in personal and professional life. A couple weekends ago I had the opportunity to witness another person making Relentless Forward Progress. This is the story of what happened.
It was the day before the Colfax Marathon - Denver's only city marathon - and I still had not decided whether to sign up or not. I logged onto FaceBook to see what cool stuff people were up to that weekend. A buddy who is a Marathon Maniac (Othman Doblany) was posting pictures of himself with other Denver runners from the marathon expo. I got the urge to run the marathon. So, I looked up the race on …

Alone we can do so little,together we can do so much.- Helen Keller I am always amazed at the ingenuity and communal nature of human beings. Whether we work like ants to build pyramids, construct railroads across a continent or help a single person take 6 million steps to run across America, there is strength in numbers. Earlier this week I was asked to speak about how ultra-running and my run across America was really a team effort. For me it was very easy to deliver this message, because my decade long career at GE had taught me that a team of people can move mountains. The following are some thoughts to be considered when building and developing teams for longevity. BUILDING THE TEAM It is art, not science. 1. Leadership For teams to function effectively, there must be leadership. The team will eventually confront challenges and need to make decisions. Sometimes these decisions can be made by a vote; other times, a leader will need to make the decision for the team. A leader of …